Home at Last
by Ingenuity15
Summary: Elizabeth and her 5 year old son Damian are homeless but find shelter in an abandoned cabin in the woods between Forks and LaPush. Is a hot-tempered werewolf really all it takes to find her happily-ever-after and the family she only dreamed of having?


*Peeks around corner* Yes, I'm still around and alive. I've been working on a lot of real life things lately, including some original works that I'm hoping to have 'publish ready' by the New Year.

Recently, I've realized how much I missed the fanfic world and, after re-reading all of these works in progress, was once again inspired to continue with them. I couldn't pick up from where I left off though! I feel I've grown as a writer and I have things I want to change in these stories, some big and some small. I'll be going through these fics and editing all of the current chapters, or sometimes rewriting them completely.

In Home At Last, the first chapter is mainly the same, but the major change I will be making is in chapter two because I am writing out all of Paul's POV. As much as I love a good imprint story where you get to see both sides of the love story, my new and (in my opinion) much improved ideas for where I will be taking this will work out much better without the switching of views.

I promise that this will be the longest A/N, but I felt you all deserved to know what was going on. The majority of these fics will feel like entirely new stories and I hope you all like the changes. Let me know if there's something you'd hate for me to remove and I'll see what I can do!

~Ingenuity15

* * *

><p>"Mommy, I'm tired of walking and my tummy's rumbling."<p>

I looked down at my precious little boy and nearly broke into tears. This life wasn't meant for him - hell it wasn't even meant for me - but we all get dealt our cards in life and this was the best we could do with them. The alternatives were just too scary.

"We have to keep going for a bit longer sweetie. How about mommy gives you a piggy back ride and you can rest for a little bit? We'll eat something once we stop for the night." His answer was to stretch towards me with his tiny hands and I crouched down so he could reach. He scrambled onto my back and we continued our trek.

I had no idea where we were, only that it was somewhere in Washington and that we were currently in the woods. Normally I stayed close to civilization but it was too risky for us to be on our own in the streets of a big city like Seattle. There were too many people who would take advantage of our situation and few who would care to help us out. We had stuck to the forests for cover a lot lately and I was hoping to find somewhere to stop soon. We were running out of food and I knew Damian really needed to rest; preferably somewhere warm.

Our current situation wasn't pretty. We were homeless and I hadn't been able to find a job to get us out of this vicious cycle. And a cycle it was.

I was abandoned as a baby and grew up in one foster home after another. Some were nice, but those were few and far between. That was the main reason why I still kept my son with me instead of leaving him in the care of the government. I loved him with everything I was and would do anything to keep him safe, happy, and away from this life. However, my experience in the system showed me that no matter how hard we had it, it was better for Damian to stay with me so that even when life was tough he would always know he was loved.

I still had nightmares about some of the experiences I had in those supposed 'caring' homes and as soon as I turned 18, I was tossed onto the street with $200 to my name and no place to turn to. That first year was the hardest. I soon learned that unless you wanted to sell your body, no one would hire you if you didn't have an address.

No money = no house = no address = no job = no money… and so it continued.

One night, shortly after my 20th birthday, I was stupid enough to venture into an alley in search of food. Next thing I remembered was waking up to the sun in a bloody mess. I found out later that I had been raped and that I was pregnant. I knew I could never abort the life inside of me. I understood why some people did it, and maybe I should have at least considered it, but I knew it would break me more than the streets ever could.

The first thing I did was get out of that damn city. I as in Chicago at the time and knew that neither I nor my baby would be safe there. I hitch hiked as far as I could, only getting in the car with female drivers (statistically less likely to harm me), and eventually ended up in a smallish town. There was a nice shelter there and although they usually only let you stay every second week, they allowed me to stay full time due to my condition. The food wasn't great, neither were the cots, but it was all so much better than the cold concrete streets.

There was a doctor who volunteered there every once in a while and so I was able to have regular check ups and medical care while delivering my child. Damian was a blessing and, although I never wanted him to know this life, I was too selfish to live without him by my side.

I never chose this life, I was born into it. I was 25 now and, as always, I was determined to permanently get us out of this dire situation we were in.

I was able to stay in that shelter for a full two years while Damian slowly grew in strength. Once he began walking with a bit of confidence, I knew it was time for us to move on. There were no jobs for the likes of me there and I knew we couldn't stay there forever, not if I was going to give my son the life he deserved.

While I was in the shelter, there was this kind old man there who told stories of the small town of Forks, Washington and the La Push reservation where he had grown up. He always spoke of how kind everyone was and how beautiful it was there. He died right before I left, but made me promise to go to that small town in Washington and try to find some help. He assured me that someone would hire me and that I could find myself a new life; start over.

It was slow going as we had a long way to go and very little means to get there. While walking had been our main mode of transportation, we were able to take a gray hound for a couple of miles when we were lucky and found enough money or I was able to find a temporary job. Anytime we found ourselves in civilization, I took the time to try and find something more permanent and to scrounge up any provisions I could. While I had promised to go to Washington, I wasn't about to pass up any opportunities. Unfortunately, there never were any and everything was only a temporary fix to our very serious problem.

And so we continued to move on, always heading towards what I was promised all those years ago.

And we had finally arrived. Or we were close to it... I hoped.

"Mommy! Look at the little house!" I looked up to see a little, deserted cabin. It couldn't have been more than a singe room, with the door falling off its hinges and the windows all broken; the roof looked like it might cave at any moment and there were vines crawling all over its cracked walls.

I had never seen such a beautiful sight.

I changed my course so that I was headed towards it and noticed a tiny trail that must lead to a town somewhere. Forks if I was lucky.

"Let's go check it out kiddo," I said. Damian must have picked up on my happy tone because he started to squirm until I let him down. I took a hold of his hand and cautiously entered the dim room, careful to mind any animals that might have taken up residence.

There wasn't much to it. A little wooden table that still stood firm, a blackened fireplace that must have been well used at the time and, to my absolute delight, there was a single cot in the corner. It was dank and not exactly clean, but it was all so much safer than the forest floor we would have been sleeping on again tonight.

Damian went right for the cot and climbed on it with a squeal of delight, "Can we sleep here tonight mommy?" The hopeful look on his face at staying in such a place made my heart heavy. But, as always, I had to be strong for the both of us.

"Of course baby. We'll probably be staying here for a while," I replied. He smiled at me and just like that, my spirits were lifted.

"How about we eat a bit and then go to bed? We have some more walking to do tomorrow and hopefully we'll find someplace to get some more food."

I started to unpack our meagre belongings from the bag I had been carrying; a moth-eaten blanket, an extra change of well worn clothes each, half a loaf of bread, a few plastic bottles we filled with water when we could and $2.73 in change. I prayed we were near our destination and that the friendly old man had been right about it.

I tore apart a bit of the bread - giving most of it to Damian as I always did – and we ate in silence, sharing the last bit of water we had. I'd have to find someplace soon to refill the bottles and hopefully scrounge up some more food.

We curled up on the cot after and I pulled Damian closer before tucking the blanket securely around us. My angel fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes and I was soon to follow; wishing as always for our saving grace to come.

.~***~.

It must be a sixth sense of mine because as always I woke up just as Damian started to stir. I figured it must be just after dawn by the amount of light that spilled into the room. It was the first sunny day we had seen in a while and I couldn't help but see it as a good omen for the day to come.

"Morning mommy," he yawned and scrunched up his nose, slowly opening his eyes. Neither of us were morning people, but I was eager to start the day. It just felt like something amazing was going to happen. I tried to tell myself it was silly, but the feeling wouldn't go away and so instead, I let it consume me.

I kissed his forehead and sat us up, "Morning Damian. Let's eat and get started, okay?"

"Do we _have_ to walk more? I want to stay here," he pouted. I chuckled a little at how cute he was.

"Mommy just wants to see where the trail goes and maybe see if there are people living nearby. I promise we'll come back tonight." That answer seemed to content him and he walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Do we have anything to eat now mommy?" That question always broke me, and I was even more determined to make sure that in the near future my baby would never have to ask that again.

"We have some bread left. But we need to find some more for supper so we have to get walking soon." I gave him all the bread we had left and I could only hope we wouldn't have to go without for any length of time.

.~***~.

Walking with Damian was always an adventure. He would make up games for us to play or make pretend scenarios for us to act out on the way. Right now we were walking on the trail I had found earlier and playing 'I spy'.

"I spy with my little eye something that is red." I looked around the very green forest and found absolutely nothing remotely resembling red. So I was left to make some wild guesses. He would do that sometimes; create make believe things so he always won.

"Is it a bird?"

"Nope!" He popped the 'p' and giggled when I pretended to be in deep thought.

"Is it a plane?"

"Nope."

"Is it Superman?"

"No mommy. Don't be silly!" He was still giggling as I sighed dramatically.

"Ok then, I give up. What is it?"

He pointed straight ahead of us. "It's the stop sign at the end of the path there."

I gapped at the very clear sign that I had somehow missed. Apparently we were a lot closer than I had originally thought as we had only been walking for about an hour now.

I scooped the laughing Damian up into my arms and tickled his side, continuing towards the road. "Well, would you look at that? You ready to see where we've ended up Damian?"

I put him down again and took his hand as soon as we reached the road. I was almost giddy at what I saw.

There in front of us were some quant houses and just down the road to the left I could see a few shops. There was a grocery store, a mechanic shop, a bakery, a diner, and a few other places I couldn't see the names of. But what really stood out was a sign to our right that clearly stated "Welcome to Forks."

I was so relieved that we had finally made it that I almost didn't feel Damian tugging at my hand.

"Look at what I found, Mommy!" he shouted excitedly and picked something up off the ground. The day kept getting better for in his hand was a wrinkled, slightly dirty, but unmistakable twenty dollar bill.

"How do you feel about a treat today Damian? I could really go for some pancakes." The look on his face as I led him to the diner made it all worth it.

.~***~.

A bell chimed as we walked through the door and I led us to a small booth in the back. Damian was bouncing in his seat at the thought of eating something that wasn't bread and all I could do was smile. This is what life was about.

"Hello dears, my name is Sue. Do you two want anything to drink?" I looked up to find a kind looking, middle aged woman placing two menus on the table before pulling out a pad of paper and a pencil.

"I'll have an orange juice please. What would you like Damian?"

"Can I have milk please?" He always became shy around strangers. Living the life we have you can guess why; but I made sure he always remembered his manners.

"Of course you can sweetie. I'll be right back. Have a look over the menus while you wait." Her whole demeanour showed nothing but gentleness and I could tell she was obviously a mom, the tone she used with Damian gave it away.

I laughed as I looked over to my son who was trying to read the menu upside down and flipped it over for him. "Thanks mom. Can I have that please?" He placed it flat and pointed to a picture of pancakes smothered in syrup and topped with blueberries. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how cheap everything was here. The drinks came free with a meal and the stack of four pancakes cost a total of $3.50. I was eternally grateful that I could tell him yes.

"Of course you can," I told him. Damian beamed at me and then became engrossed in a coloring sheet that he had found on the table with a little cup of crayons. He had never really had the chance to use something as simple as crayons before and I loved the fact that he was getting at least one childhood experience here. Picking out my own meal was simple enough and soon Sue was over with our drinks.

"That's a beautiful picture you're coloring there. Is it for your mom?" Damian nodded but never took his eyes from the picture; completely concentrated on keeping everything inside the lines. Sue laughed and turned her attention to me, "So what can I get for you two today?"

"We'll have the blueberry pancakes and the breakfast special please."

She wrote it down, throwing a smile at Damian who had yet to look up, and then left through a door that I assumed led to the kitchens.

In no time at all we were digging into our food and I was full before I even had a third of it gone. Damian had managed to get through one of the giant pancakes before stating he was full and I struggled to wipe the sticky syrup off his face. With the leftovers we had I knew we would be fine for at least two more days. As I was preparing to get Sues attention, I heard the chiming of the bell and my jaw nearly dropped when I saw the new arrivals.

Three amazingly attractive men - who I could only describe as giants - walked in, all with russet skin and short-cropped hair. They were wearing nothing but cut off shorts and, by the look of the grease all over them, I guessed they worked at the car mechanics just across the road. They were laughing loudly at something and I quickly averted my eyes before any of them could catch me staring.

"Woah. Those guys are huge!" Apparently I wasn't the only one to notice them. Sue must have caught my sons comment as she walked to our table laughing.

"Yes they are, but I assure you they are nothing but giant teddy bears. Aren't you boys?" I felt the blush on my cheeks as their attention turned to us.

"Hey mom! Have the usual ready?" The smallest of the three asked with a hopeful expression, looking more like a puppy than anything else, especially when Sue hit him with a dish towel.

"You mind your manners Seth. One of these days you'll be cooking for yourself and then you'll learn to appreciate me. Honestly, I hope your son learns to take care of you more then mine does." She said the last part to me and I couldn't help but giggle at her antics. She might have been teasing him, but it was easy to see the love and adoration she had for her child. I imagine I had the same look when I looked at Damian.

I felt as if someone was watching me and turned to find that one of the men was staring at me. Well, it was more like gapping. I saw shock, confusion, and then something like adoration before he smiled at me. It was a smile that would make any woman breathless and I couldn't help but give a shy smile in return.

He walked towards our table and held out his hand to me.

"Hi, I'm Paul."

Gingerly I placed my hand in his and was not only surprised by the heat coming from him, but also because instead of the hand shake I was expecting, he brought my hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles.

I stared into his eyes and it seemed I was no more able to look away than he was. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat that I retracted my hand and looked away in embarrassment. Sue and the other two guys were looking between us in amusement, though I couldn't help but notice the sparkle of happiness in Sue's eyes.

"Well now that you've met Paul I should introduce you to my son Seth and their friend Jacob. Boys this is… I'm sorry dear but I never did get your name after." She apologized.

"Elizabeth. And this is my son Damian," I introduced us and Damian waved shyly from his seat. "We just arrived here yesterday."

"Is it just the two of you here?" Paul asked. While innocent enough, I was growing uncomfortable with their questions knowing that the more they asked, the closer they would come to learning the truth I never wanted them to know. One slip and I could easily have my son taken from me.

"Um, yes it is. I'm sorry, but we really should get going. Do you think we could have the rest of this boxed up to go, please Sue?" I indicated the left over food and at her nod slipped out of the booth, reaching for Damian as I did, "Thanks."

We walked to the counter and I prepared to pay for our meal but was stopped by a warm hand.

"I got it."

I looked over my shoulder to see Paul smiling at me while holding his wallet.

"Oh no. I couldn't ask you to do that…" He merely shook his head, ignoring my protests.

"I want to. Humour me?"

Stunned, I could only shake my head. How could anyone do something so generous for someone they just met? I had never been on the receiving end of such kindness and it gave me a warm feeling inside, knowing now that I had made the right decision in coming here.

I felt Damian let go of my hand and was surprised as he wrapped his tiny arms around Paul's leg in a hug. Apparently Paul was surprised too as he looked down at my son.

"Thank you Mister Paul."

Paul beamed and ruffled Damian's hair lightly.

"You're welcome kid," he replied. His laugh was a deep rumble and I involuntarily shivered at the sound.

"Here you go, Elizabeth." I felt boxes shoved into my hand and thanked Sue before turning to Paul to do the same.

"Thank you so much Paul. You have no idea what it means to us."

I thought his smile couldn't get any bigger, but he proved me wrong.

We were just about to head out when I remembered my other goal for today. "Hey Sue, sorry to bother you again but do you know of anywhere that's hiring? I don't care where."

"No bother at all, hun, can you start tomorrow morning? Pay is minimum wage but the hours aren't that bad and Damian can stay in one of the booths if you have no where for him to go. He seems like a quiet kid who wouldn't cause any trouble."

My mouth moved but I couldn't get and words to come out. Sue clearly saw my distress and answered the questions I had been thinking.

"Don't be so surprised, I've been looking for another waitress and I can tell you're a hard worker. Besides, I can tell you could use a break."

I didn't bother trying to stop the tears as they streamed down my face.

"Thank you."

It was only a whisper, but I knew she had heard me.

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><p>And there we are; Chapter One slightly edited but still the same in plot. I've got a lot of ideas for this story, although I only plan for it to be around 15 chapters or so. Hope you like it so far and see you next time! As always, love to hear what you think and thank you for reading.<p>

~Ingenuity15

"Not a problem dear. You and Damian have a good night now and I'll see you at eight if that works for you? We'll talk more about hours and stuff then."

I nodded and left, still in a slight state of disbelief. Looking over my shoulder one last time, I found my eyes locked on Paul's as he waved goodbye to me, a sad smile on his face. I couldn't fathom why, but I desperately hoped to see him again.

I was going to head straight back to the cabin when a general store caught my eye. Now that I had this job and since Paul paid for our food, I knew I could afford to spend some of the money we currently had to treat Damian. He really was my world and I wanted to make his day as unbelievable as mine had been.

"Hey Damian, why don't we go to the store and you can pick out a toy to play with tomorrow while mommy works?"

The look of absolute joy and childish wonderment on his face nearly made me cry again. Even though we weren't out of the woods yet – literally and figuratively – I knew everything was going to be ok.

I had a really good feeling that Forks, Washington was going to be the start of our new forever.


End file.
